January 27, 2004
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@ sa.ucsb.edu
The National Geographic Live! series at UCSB presents intrepid paleontologist Paul Sereno delivering the illustrated lecture Africa’s Lost Dinosaur World
Summary Facts:
- Paul Sereno
- An acclaimed paleontologist based at the University of Chicago and founder of Project Exploration
- Sereno has made some of the most exciting fossil discoveries in the world
- Third of four events in the ’03-’04 National Geographic Live! series
- Thursday, March 4
- 8 pm / UCSB Campbell Hall
- General public $15 / UCSB students & youth under 18 $10
- Tickets/Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535
Paul Sereno, the world’s greatest dinosaur hunter and leader of dozens of expeditions, will present the illustrated lecture Africa’s Lost Dinosaur World on Thursday, March 4 at 8 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. A National Geographic Explorer-in Residence, Sereno will be part of the fascinating National Geographic Live! series presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. Sereno’s presentation will chronicle his amazing discoveries in the Sahara, Morocco and Niger that have included: Afrovenator, a new 27-foot-long meat-eater; skeletons of a 70-foot-long plant-eater he named Jobaria; a bizarre fish-eating dinosaur named Suchomimus, with huge claws and a sail on its back; and the 45-foot-long plant-eater Nigersaurus. Sereno and his team also discovered the most fleet-footed meat-eater, 30-foot-long Deltadromeus, and the skull of a huge, T. rex-sized meat-eater Carcharodontosaurus.
Sereno, a professor in the University of Chicago’s Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, fuses his mission of scientific research with educational efforts, engaging his students in the process of discovery by taking them to the field to search for fossils. In 1998 Sereno and his wife Gabrielle Lyon co-founded Project Exploration (www.projectexploration.org), an organization dedicated to bringing dinosaur discoveries and natural science to the public and providing innovative educational opportunities for city youths.
While earning a doctorate in geology at Columbia University, Sereno began studying dinosaur fossils at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Later traveling around the world, he studied and photographed dinosaur fossils in far-flung collections in China and Mongolia. In 1987 he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago, where he now teaches paleontology and evolution to graduate and undergraduate students and human anatomy to medical students.
Sereno’s fieldwork began in 1988 in the Andean foothill region of Argentina, where his team unearthed the first complete skeletons of the primitive dinosaur Herrerasaurus. Returning to this area in 1991, Sereno’s team discovered a small skeleton belonging to the new species Eoraptor, the most primitive dinosaur ever discovered, dated to 228 million years.
Sereno’s honors include the Chicago Tribune’s Teacher of the Year award in 1993 and Chicago magazine’s Chicagoan of the Year award in 1996. He was named to Newsweek magazine’s Century Club (1997), People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People list (1997), and Esquire’s 100 Best People in the World list (1997). He has also received the Boston Museum of Science’s Walker Prize for extraordinary contributions in paleontology (1997), and Columbia University’s University Medal for Excellence (1999).
For more information about Paul Sereno, see his website at www.paulsereno.org.
The acclaimed lecture series National Geographic Live! features some of the world’s most celebrated photographers, explorers, authors and scientists who explore the world while on assignment for National Geographic. Now in its second year in Santa Barbara, the four-event series will conclude with esteemed wildlife and adventure photographer Michael Nichols presenting Megatransect: A Photographic Journey Through the Heart of Africa on Monday, April 12.
This program is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures in association with National Geographic Live!, a mission program of speakers and events that brings the National Geographic experience to communities nationwide.
Tickets for Africa’s Lost Dinosaur World are $15 for the general public and $10 for UCSB students & youth 18 and under.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.